The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Parramatta Eels made an approach to St Helens hooker James Roby to join the club for the 2015 season, only for Roby to knock them back.
The Eels are on the look out for players anywhere they can find them after showing the door to over a dozen of their current squad.
Roby is the current English test hooker and would be a handy signing for any team. He signed a long term deal to stay at St Helens recently and has made every indication that he wants to play out his career at the club.
Still, you would suggest that the Eels offer must not have been all that flattering. NRL clubs have so much more money to spend under the salary cap, to get knocked back by a player like James Roby suggest to me that the Eels offer simply wasn’t enough to make Roby consider making would would have been the biggest move of his career.
Roby is one English player that I rate higher than most others. While is is under skilled compared to the most top hookers in the NRL he does posses a good running game out of dummy half, is a good competitor and would be a handy addition to most NRL clubs.
This was always going to be a problem for the Eels. You simply don’t tell so many players they are unwanted for next season without having suitable replacements already lined up to take their place.
At this stage it looks almost certain that the Eels will be unable to convince English forward Gareth Hock to honour his contract after Hock had a change of heart soon after signing with the Eels. It’s leave Parramatta in a tough position. There simply are not enough quality players out there to fill out their first grade squad for next season.
The Eels will be relying heavily on their one juniors and players off loaded by other NRL clubs during the off season to help bolster their lineup. They may even be forced to look at recruiting players from Rugby Union.
It is hardly ideal and makes you question the manner in which the Eels chose to move so many of their current squad on. Yes changes were needed, but they should have thought about who was available before they told most of their current side they weren’t any good.
